'The Duke, The Count, and Me' gets world premiere at San Jose's Tabard Theatre

James Creer is about to find out what it's like to be superhuman. The actor/singer already has a full-time day job, as a marketer for the San Jose tech company Maxim Integrated. Soon, Creer will also begin a night gig, as star of the Tabard Theatre Company's newest production, the one-man show The Duke, The Count, and Me...Dixie to Swing, when Jazz was King! It's the first of three world premieres the downtown San Jose company is planning in this, its 13th season.

"We were talking about doing something that showcased great jazz artists," Creer says of his initial conversations with Cassetta. "I've never seen anything on stage like this," he says of Duke's format, which has him playing Sketch Hopkins, a fictional musician who sings the songs and tells the stories of jazz giants like Duke Ellington, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

A seven-member band will accompany Creer, who "plays on the piano some of the time." He sings 14 songs in the show, which is about two hours long with one intermission.

Creer--who has no understudy--will be doing 14 performances starting Nov. 1 at the Tabard on San Pedro Square, 29 N. San Pedro St., Suite 200, San Jose. On two Saturdays--Nov. 9 and the show's closing date, Nov. 23--he'll be performing twice.

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It's not the first time Creer, who lives in Almaden Valley, has soloed in a play. (He's also on the board of directors of the South Bay Musical Theatre.) In February he starred in the Tabard production of Looking Over the President's Shoulder, about Alonzo Fields, a White House butler who served in four administrations. "But this is the first time I've had a full-time job and starred in a one-man show," he says. "It's been a stretch for me but I do like a challenge!"

Tickets are $36 cabaret seating, $30 adults, $28 seniors, $12 youths/full-time college students with ID. $35 Ticket and 'Tini (martini) special opening night only. Available at tabardtheatre.org or 800.838.3006.